Content Area(s): Life Science, Earth Science Topic: Animal response to earthquake indicators Short description: One researcher noticed that toads left their colony several days before an earthquake occurred and returned several days afterward. Scientists are not yet sure how the toads sense an earthquake but, they are studying the toads to find out
Claim: Studying the behavior of common toads might help us find a reliable way to predict earthquakes.
MS-ETS1 Engineering Design
MS-ETS1-1. Define the criteria and constraints of a design problem with sufficient precision to ensure a successful solution, taking into account relevant scientific principles and potential impacts on people and the natural environment that may limit possible solutions.
Common Core State Standards Connections:
ELA/Literacy
RST.6-8.1 Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of science and technical texts, attending to the precise details of explanations descriptions.
RST.6-8.8 Distinguish among facts and reasoned judgment based on research findings, and speculation in a text.
WHST.6-8.1 Write arguments focused on discipline-specific content.
WHST.6-8.9 Draw evidence from literary or informational text to support analysis, reflection and research.
SL.8.1 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions(one-on-one, in groups, teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 6 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.
Scientists have been trying for years to find a reliable way to predict earthquakes. Despite years of searching, we have yet to find an early warning system for these potentially devastating events. But scientists may soon have a surprising answer to this problem -- toads. Common toads seem to be able to sense when an earthquake is coming and will flee from their colony days before the earthquake strikes. The evidence for this comes from a population of toads that left their breeding colony three days before an earthquake that struck L'Aquila in Italy in 2009. Biologist Dr. Rachel Grant of the Open University, in Milton Keynes, UK, who was studying the toads, noticed that one day they just left. Several days later an earthquake occurred about 74km from where the toads were located. The toads then returned several days after the earthquake happened. "Our study is one of the first to document animal behavior before, during and after an earthquake," says Dr. Grant.
Scientists are only beginning to understand how the behavior of toads relates to earthquakes. NASA geophysicist Friedemann Freund showed that, when rocks were under very high levels of stress - for example by the "gargantuan tectonic forces" just before an earthquake, they release charged particles. Many scientists suspect that the toads may be able to sense these ions that are released from the Earth's crust before a quake occurs. These ions could be reacting with the water and air to form gases and other substances that the toads are sensitive to. Scientists hope that by figuring out how toads sense an earthquake, they might be able to build sensors using the same principle. In this way, toads may lead us to the first reliable means of earthquake detection.
Yep, Laurence. The Earth Dragon Awakes: The San Francisco Earthquake of 1906. 2006. 128p. HarperCollins, $14.99 (0-06-027524-3). Gr. 3–5. Eight-year-old Henry and his friend nine-year-old Chin recount their experiences during the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Told with alternating points of view and interspersed chapters to explain the science of the quake, this story has a you-are-there feeling. Slightly older readers will enjoy Gail Langer Karwoski’s Quake! Disaster in San Francisco, 1906 (Peachtree, 2004).
Moonshower, Candie. The Legend of Zoey. 2006. 224p. Delacorte, $15.95 (0-385-73280-5). Gr. 4–6. While on a class field trip, 13-year-old Zoey is propelled back in time to 1811, just before the New Madrid earthquakes, which destroyed a Chickasaw Indian village and changed the course of the Mississippi River. Zoey’s experiences, told in entries in her diary, are interspersed among those of her nineteenth-century counterpart, Prudence, the daughter of white settlers.
Title: Toads Can Predict Earthquakes
Content Area(s): Life Science, Earth ScienceTopic: Animal response to earthquake indicators
Short description: One researcher noticed that toads left their colony several days before an earthquake occurred and returned several days afterward. Scientists are not yet sure how the toads sense an earthquake but, they are studying the toads to find out
Claim: Studying the behavior of common toads might help us find a reliable way to predict earthquakes.
Keywords: earthquake
Difficulty of Concept: Easy
Reading Level (Pit Stop 8 Article):
Flesch Reading Ease: 58.5Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level: 9.8
Lexile: 1210
Next Generation Science Standards:
MS-ETS1 Engineering DesignMS-ETS1-1. Define the criteria and constraints of a design problem with sufficient precision to ensure a successful solution, taking into account relevant scientific principles and potential impacts on people and the natural environment that may limit possible solutions.
Common Core State Standards Connections:
ELA/LiteracyRST.6-8.1 Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of science and technical texts, attending to the precise details of explanations descriptions.
RST.6-8.8 Distinguish among facts and reasoned judgment based on research findings, and speculation in a text.
WHST.6-8.1 Write arguments focused on discipline-specific content.
WHST.6-8.9 Draw evidence from literary or informational text to support analysis, reflection and research.
SL.8.1 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions(one-on-one, in groups, teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 6 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.
Vocabulary Words: animal behavior
Topic of Game Introduction Video: Logical Correlation
Link to Game Introduction Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfKWtgeWpXg
Full Text of Article:
Scientists have been trying for years to find a reliable way to predict earthquakes. Despite years of searching, we have yet to find an early warning system for these potentially devastating events. But scientists may soon have a surprising answer to this problem -- toads. Common toads seem to be able to sense when an earthquake is coming and will flee from their colony days before the earthquake strikes. The evidence for this comes from a population of toads that left their breeding colony three days before an earthquake that struck L'Aquila in Italy in 2009. Biologist Dr. Rachel Grant of the Open University, in Milton Keynes, UK, who was studying the toads, noticed that one day they just left. Several days later an earthquake occurred about 74km from where the toads were located. The toads then returned several days after the earthquake happened. "Our study is one of the first to document animal behavior before, during and after an earthquake," says Dr. Grant.Scientists are only beginning to understand how the behavior of toads relates to earthquakes. NASA geophysicist Friedemann Freund showed that, when rocks were under very high levels of stress - for example by the "gargantuan tectonic forces" just before an earthquake, they release charged particles. Many scientists suspect that the toads may be able to sense these ions that are released from the Earth's crust before a quake occurs. These ions could be reacting with the water and air to form gases and other substances that the toads are sensitive to. Scientists hope that by figuring out how toads sense an earthquake, they might be able to build sensors using the same principle. In this way, toads may lead us to the first reliable means of earthquake detection.
References/Sources:
Additional Content:
Author: Cindy Wilbur